Every year, there’s tons of money flowing in Madison Square Garden, big
changes every summer. They’re the Toronto Maple Leafs of the United States.
The big-monied New York Rangers. The most overblown, rudderless franchise in
the NHL.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the new whipping boy: Marian Gaborik.
Scott Gomez couldn’t hack it at $7M per. Jaromir Jagr wasn’t the answer and
he was paid more than that, and now, Gaborik and his $7.5M per, 3-year-deal.
You know the story: When Gaborik is healthy, he’s lethal. When will he be
healthy? Oh, and who’s going to dish him the puck now that Gomez is gone?
Details, folks, details. All GM Glen Sather knows is that the entire
season is sold out, the payroll will be tops, and whatever happens with the
AHL Hartford Wolf Pack is secondary, because there will always be a
big-ticket free agent bailout at hand, like the players mentioned above.
Development is not this franchise’s forte, and its GM’s best days are
decades behind.
Captain Chris Drury enters year three of his colossal ($7M per) deal.
He’s got 25 and 22 goals in his first two seasons with New York. If he
falters, look for Drury to go the way of Gomez as Sather might look for ways
out of his free-spending past. Ales Kotalik, Drury’s former Buffalo
teammate, and Chris Higgins, who came over in the Gomez trade, will try to
energize the left wing.
Defensively, Wade Redden and Michal Roszival represent $14M worth of
mediocrity. Marc Staal, 22, is coming along nicely, though, and will likely
supplant Redden as the number one defenseman some time soon. 25-year-old Dan
Girardi appeared in all 82 games, and we can look forward to the debut of
Bobby Sanguinetti, the club’s 2006 first-round pick. The Trenton, NJ, native
has spent the past three seasons between Hartford (AHL) and Owen Sound (OHL
juniors).
The franchise’s bright spot is Henrik Lundqvist, who gave his club a 3-1
series lead over Washington in the first round, only to see it slip away.
Lundqvist (2.43GAA;.916SV%) is remarkably consistent. Over his four NHL
seasons, he has won no fewer than 30 games; his save percentage hovers
between .912 and .922; goals against between 2.24 and 2.43. Steve
Valliquette backs up again after appearing in 15 games last season.
Lundqvist is the cornerstone of the franchise, signed through 2013-14.
Derek Morris is out (Boston), Blair Betts is gone (Philly), Markus
Naslund retired, Nik Antropov signed with Atlanta and Nik Zherdev is a UFA
now that Sather exercised his walk-away option in arbitration. With so many
free agent failures and big-ticket trades, it’s time for forwards such as
Hartford C Artem Anisimov (2006 draft) and Evgeny Grachev (2008) to get a
shot. Homegrown veterans such as Brandon Dubinsky (13 goals) and Ryan
Callahan (22) must carry more of the load.
Coach John Tortorella brings a propensity for fire-wagon hockey.
Tortorella took over for Tom Renney 61 games into last season.
